Only THREE more to go. When the Facebook“Jew Face” page gets to 150 likes someone will win a Kindle version of the book. Here’s how it will work. First I will pick a letter from A-Z. Once I do that I will pick a corresponding number for each person who has liked the page whose name starts with that letter. So for example, in the first round if I pick the letter A, only someone whose name starts with A will have the chance to win. As of right now there are 11 people who have “Liked” the page whose name starts with A. If that would be the number when reaching 150 Likes I will put the numbers 1-11 in a hat and the name that corresponds alphabetically with the number I pick will be the winner. There are 2 rules. The first rule is that the person who wins must allow me to mention their name as the winner on the site and on the page so that everyone knows a winner was indeed chosen. The second rule is that an email must be provided by the winner in order to send the Kindle version of the book. The winner may choose to give the book as a gift as long as the proper email to send it to is provided. Only 10 more to go! Once this milestone is reached there will be another one set for a future giveaway. Good luck to everyone and tell your friends about the page and of course the book!
Invite your friends!
Jew Face: An excerpt connecting then and now
What has always been the most remarkable thing about the book Jew Face, in my opinion at least, has nothing to do with how the book was written. The most remarkable thing has always been that the story is true. As a writer, I could ask for no greater gift than to have at my disposal a story that is so rich with almost every human emotion imaginable, and of a subject matter not only important in history, but in this particular instance, inspiring and hopeful. Whenever possible in this blog I will try to draw the story to a real connection, be it through the date or through people involved in the book and the people close to them. The following excerpt involves the story of Sam Abram and his sister Nettie. Sam was a very close friend of my father, and his daughter Chelly recently had her birthday and on Monday will commemorate, according to the Jewish calendar, the anniversary of her father’s passing 14 years ago. With her permission I am making this mention and posting this excerpt from the book Jew Face.
Saving Nettie
As the Germans were to come in on various occasions and raid neighborhoods, the Jewish community in Amsterdam became smaller and more dispersed. Those either not willing to accept the evidence or whose innate courage prevented them from leaving their home would ultimately find themselves shipped off to what we now know would ultimately be their cruel treatment in concentration camps, and in most cases, death.
Throughout 1941, Seys-Innquart, Aus der Funten, and his other henchmen were in the process of determining a location to use as a deportation center for the Jews of Holland. The two most logical places were the Esnoga, the Great Spanish-Portuguese Synagogue, and the Hollandse Schouwburg, the great concert hall of Amsterdam. After reviewing it carefully, the Nazis felt that the Schouwburg was the more logical choice. Because of the large amount of Jewish patronage over the years, the proximity to the Jewish ghetto, and the purpose in which it was now going to be used, the Nazis changed its name to the Joodse Schouwburg and prepared it for use as a deportation center.
The plan had in many ways already been put into action. The concentration camps of Westerbork and Vugt were set up in the north and south, respectively, and beginning in January of 1942, after mass roundups, Jews were no longer allowed to live anywhere in the Netherlands but Amsterdam or the two camps. When arriving in Amsterdam, these people would either live in the homes of others or would reside in public institutions such as schools or hospitals.
The Schouwburg had been set up and was used for Straf Gevaals (“S Cases”) and for whatever group of random Jews the Nazis chose to keep there until deportation.
Meanwhile, the death camps of Auschwitz and Sobibor were close to operating at full capacity. The Germans were taking the process of eliminating the Jewish population of Europe to a new level. Once they reached that stage, in July of 1942, the system in which they handled the Jews of Holland was cut and dry. Homes and institutions were raided, and if not emptied out in full, they were left devastated and in shambles. Most of the people picked up in these raids were brought to Westerbork, where they would stay for a short while, days at most, before being transported to the death camps. Those not sent to Westerbork went through Vugt. The majority of the remaining was first processed in the Schouwburg and then went through the same pattern of Auschwitz or Sobibor via Westerbork.
Even before the mass deportations of July of 1942, the Grune Polizei (“Green Police”), the Nazi police force patrolling Amsterdam, would make regular raids and roundups in Jewish neighborhoods. Many of the Jews who had an understanding of what was taking place went into hiding before they were forced to leave their homes. For many, this was the reason they survived, although, as was the case with everyone who hid, some were more fortunate than others.
The situation in Amsterdam was worsening from week to week. Thousands of people had already been taken from their homes, and it was becoming more and more clear that this was going to get a lot worse before it got better.
Most of the people being seized from their homes at this point were individuals. Families and couples appeared to be spared for a large part, but it was a tenuous situation at best, and the future had a very ominous feel to it.
One day early in 1942, Nardus was approached by one of his good friends, Sam Abram. Sam lived close to Nardus, and they had attended Yeshiva together, frequented the same gatherings, and knew and liked each other very much. Sam had a younger sister, Nettie, and he was concerned that this young, attractive, single woman would be in danger of being sent to one of the camps. And his fears were justified. Many of the women in the neighborhood had disappeared, and with the incidents of brutality leaking out, no one wanted to spend too much time imagining what this meant. They just knew that is wasn’t good. So Sam asked Nardus if he had a way to help Nettie stay out of the camps and remain in Amsterdam.
There was really only one way Nardus could help her: He had to…More
The love story in Jew Face
In a random conversation earlier today, after mentioning my book, I jokingly suggested to a young woman that I should promote Jew Face as the perfect book to read upon completing Fifty Shades of Grey. She grinned slightly and lifted up the book she was reading, Fifty Shades Darker, the second in the Fifty Shades trilogy. I proceeded to ask her what would cause her to be drawn to my book. She responded with the words, “if it was a love story”.
Well for those of you wondering, Jew Face is the story of a woman unable to move safely in her home town of Amsterdam due to what in those days in that city was her very Jewish face, and a Jewish man who looked like a regular Dutchman, who took it upon himself to see to her safety regardless of the danger involved. His emerging love for the woman and her initial trust and faith that steadily turned into a deep and long lasting love is the foundation of the entire story.
So for those looking for a love story, there is a reason the subtitle is “A story of love and heroism in Nazi-occupied Holland.” This story revolves around so many different aspects, with love very much in the forefront.
Kindle Giveaway
Only 10 more to go. When the Facebook “Jew Face” page gets to 150 likes someone will win a Kindle version of the book. Here’s how it will work. First I will pick a letter from A-Z. Once I do that I will pick a corresponding number for each person who has liked the page whose name starts with that letter. So for example, in the first round if I pick the letter A, only someone whose name starts with A will have the chance to win. As of right now there are 11 people who have “Liked” the page whose name starts with A. If that would be the number when reaching 150 Likes I will put the numbers 1-11 in a hat and the name that corresponds alphabetically with the number I pick will be the winner. There are 2 rules. The first rule is that the person who wins must allow me to mention their name as the winner on the site and on the page so that everyone knows a winner was indeed chosen. The second rule is that an email must be provided by the winner in order to send the Kindle version of the book. The winner may choose to give the book as a gift as long as the proper email to send it to is provided. Only 10 more to go! Once this milestone is reached there will be another one set for a future giveaway. Good luck to everyone and tell your friends about the page and of course the book!
Cyclists in Amsterdam between 1900-1930
I am posting this video to give a little bit of a flavor of what life was like in Amsterdam up until 10 years before the Nazi invasion in order to make it possible to relate to those living in Amsterdam in the book Jew Face.
What is Iran up to?
When Nazi Germany rose to power in 1933 very few, if any, knew what type of horrors they would be capable of inflicting on Europe. Even with the strong anti-Semitic rhetoric no one predicted they would put their “Final Solution” which would lead to the murder of 6 million Jews. Even with Kristallnacht, “Night of Broken Glass”, German Jews knew living in Germany would no longer be comfortable, but most did not predict the gas chambers and death camps. The Nazi strategy was one of gradual progression. They did not hide their disdain for the Jewish people, but what they did was start by taking away their rights, turning public sentiment against them, removing their basic dignity, and finally taking away their life. Their strategy was so successful in Holland that many did not realize how bad it was going to be until it was too late.
Any Jew who believes that anti-Israel sentiment is not the same as anti-Semitism has chosen to turn a blind eye very similar to the blind eyes turned by so many during the reign of Nazi Germany. Israel, the Jewish state, has been a willing partner in peace and a nation that has given up land in the name of peace. We have the nation of Iran committed to its destruction. Its leadership has consistently denied the Holocaust ever happened, as I discuss in my article, “Holocaust Denial: Deceptive hatred”, and it continues a campaign of political manipulation designed to lull the world to sleep while it gains enough strength to attempt its ultimate goal, the destruction of the Jewish state. At this point in time close to 6 million Jewish people now live in Israel. Iran recently instructed Hezbollah not to attack Israel or to fire its missiles into it cities. Their reasoning is that they do not want to make Israel seem like the victim and create more worldwide support.
Their strategy is to progressively build their army, manipulate public opinion, and when they think the time is right attack in devastating fashion. The major difference between now and the 1930s is that today there is a strong and organized Jewish Army known as the IDF, Israel Defense Forces, and the response and or preemptive strike will be with the might of a nation committed to survival. Hopefully it never comes to that, but if the world and a comfortable Jewish populous turns a blind eye similar to that of the 1930s, the conflict and loss of life will be inevitable.
When the Nazis occupied Holland in 1940, 10% of Amsterdam’s population was Jewish. In those days, Amsterdam was not as it is today, a city with various minorities making it far more difficult to identify with certainty a person’s religion or ethnicity. In 1940, a person with a dark complexion and dark hair in Amsterdam was assumed to be Jewish. To the German’s, the ‘Joden Kop’ was a way of harshly identifying that they recognized the face of a Jew. Sipora Groen, my mother, was seen as having one of those identifiable faces. Hence the title of the book “Jew Face”, the story of my parent’s life, taking place primarily during the time of the occupation between 1940-45 and revolving around their journeys and experiences during those years not only of horror and sadness, but also courage and strength.
Occupation-72 years ago today
On May 10, 1940 Germany invaded Holland. 5 days later the Dutch government capitulated marking the beginning of what would be 5 years of Nazi occupation as chronicled in the book “Jew Face”.
Holland's Heroes 